With less than two months to the Kenya Open Golf Championship, Muthaiga’s Greg Snow has once more proved he will be the man to watch. This past week, Snow authoritatively won the Muthiaga Golf Club leg of the Safari Tour, beating his closest competitor by huge 15-stroke margin after four rounds.
Snow completed all four rounds under par, scoring 4-under in the first round, 1-under, 7-under and 1-under in rounds two, three and four respectively for a total score of 13-under par.
Snow’s third round, an incredible 7-under par score, included eight birdies and a lone bogey on the tough par-4 8th hole. Snow missed birdies on the relatively easy par-5s – the fourth, seventh and 18th holes.
Commenting after his Muthaiga victory, Snow credited his form on an a much improved short game. "After Thika, I noticed that my short game was a bit off, so I put a bit of work on it and I am glad to see the results,” he said. “Muthaiga has been hot this week and keeping the ball on the fairway was a challenge. The greens were equally fast and challenging”.
Snow extended his overall lead on the Road to the 2019 Kenya Open ranking to 95.5 points. “I am looking forward to playing the final Safari Tour event at Karen and I am both excited and nervous about the Kenya Open. We are all preparing hard for that event.”
Snow’s huge winning margin is comparable to that of Tiger Woods at the 2000 US Open where he obliterated the field winning with a 15-stroke margin over Miguel Angel Jimenez. Woods won the 1997 Masters with a 12-stroke margin over Tom Kite and was victorious at the 2000 WGC-NEC Invitational with an 11 stroke margin over Nick Price.
For his efforts, Snow banked the top prize of Sh450,000 from the total prize pot of Sh3 million.
Riz Charania and Dismas Indiza finished in joint second place with scores of 286, 15-strokes behind Snow while Simon Ngige finished fourth with a score of 288.
David Wakhu and David Opati finished in joint fifth with scores of 290. Wakhu was the winner of the first Safari Tour leg at the Nyali Golf and Country Club in August 2018.
Snow won the second leg at Vet Lab Sports Club, beating Dismas Indiza in a captivating play-off.
At the Limuru Country Club, Michael Karangi, an elite amateur golfer from Kiambu Golf Club, beat them all, however, it was Snow who was best among the pros. At Thika Greens in December 2018, Snow continued to exert his dominance and at Muthaiga this week Snow slammed the door on the competition.
The final Safari Tour leg will be held at the Karen Country Club on February 16-20 and while Snow will be aiming to stamp his authority, the other golf professionals have vowed to play better and freeze Snow’s run.
With a guaranteed prize fund of Sh3 million at Karen and 1.1 million euros (Sh127.6 million) at the Kenya Open, our local pros have a lot to play for.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
